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A companion reflection to Deeply Functional – Episode 1
By Todd Schmenk, LMHC
Core Idea
To be deeply functional is to adopt a fundamentally different lens as a clinician, one that shifts our attention from form to function, from content to context, and from symptom reduction to workability across time.
It’s the difference between asking:
“What is the client thinking or feeling right now?”
and
“What is this behavior (including thinking or feeling) doing in this moment, and what does it lead to over time?”
Philosophical Grounding
This approach is rooted in Functional Contextualism (FC)—the philosophical stance underlying ACT, RFT, and Process-Based Therapy (PBT). FC prioritizes:
- Prediction-and-influence over explanation or diagnosis.
- Context over content.
- Workability over truth.
As Hayes, Barnes-Holmes, & Wilson (2012) note in The ACT Book:
“We are not interested in what is true in the conventional sense, but in what leads to successful working—what functions effectively in the service of chosen ends.”
From this lens, language itself is viewed not as a mirror of internal truth, but as a behavior that participates in shaping our experience—and that can entangle or liberate us depending on how it functions.
Clinical Implications
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